Five Arashi-Do members competed

Five members from Arashi-Do Martial Arts Sylvan Lake competed in Calgary and Edmonton Sept. 29.

Four members, including head instructor Sensei Ken Sumner, went to Edmonton to compete in the fourth submission series of 2012. This is a continuation of a submission series that was competed at earlier in the year by Sensei Ken Sumner. All four competed in Brazilian jujitsu. The submission series is a group of four tournaments spread out through the year in which competitors compete in each individual competition.

They earn points for each position they earn in the tournament. At the end of the year, the person with the most points for the top two or four from each city, both Calgary and Edmonton, meet in Red Deer Nov. 10th for the provincial finals. It is here that Sumner will hopefully compete for the title of Alberta submission series champion.

For the fourth submission series, Sumner competed in both No-Gi and Gi in the heavyweight 205 plus division. Gi involves the traditional Uniform, while No-Gi is just wearing shorts and a t-shirt. Ken lost his first Gi match three to zero on a last minute guard pass and was out of the running in that division. In the Gi division, he fought against more heavyweights, winning his first match by arm-bar, and then losing to an arm-bar in his second match to finish in second place.

Eric Borrowman competed in the 170 to 185, both Gi and No-Gi division. In the Gi division, he fought a very experienced competitor from Edmonton and lost due to a triangle choke in the first round after being up two to zero halfway through the match. In the Gi he lost the first match and won his second against his teammate, then lost his third match on points. It was a very close one, seven to six. Ultimately he ended up in fourth place.

Guy Lacoursiere also competed in Gi and No-Gi. After only two months of training, he decided to jump in and try his hand at competing. He ended up taking fourth in both Gi and No-Gi, missing a couple of very close submission attempts.

The fourth member from Sylvan Lake declined to be named.

Finally, Cory B. was in Calgary for the Striker series. He competed in the heavyweight 205 plus division. It was here that he fought people with almost twice the experience, but he showed great heart and competed well.

He took a silver medal after beating someone with much more experience than him to get into the finals match. He lost to someone with close to twice the experience he has, but with a great showing. He was also awarded his yellow rank the previous night so it was a great opportunity for him to show his skills.